


Running Start

by moretomhardy



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: (Not between Derek and Stiles), Alpha Stiles Stilinski, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alternate Universe, M/M, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Mating Rituals, Mating Run, Omega Derek Hale, Sexual Harassment, Threats of Rape/Non-Con, induced heat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-27
Updated: 2020-09-27
Packaged: 2021-03-07 22:34:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,495
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26685235
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moretomhardy/pseuds/moretomhardy
Summary: Stiles is finally old enough to participate in the annual Beacon Hills Mating Run, and he could not be more thrilled! Okay, maybe he could be more thrilled if all his friends didn't know exactly who they were chasing or who they wanted chasing them, but still, this was his chance to finally join them in the world of coupled bliss.This is Derek's seventh mating run, and he was just hoping to lay a scent trail too convoluted for any alpha to follow and hole up in his chosen cave until the night is over.AKA a mating run AU with alpha Stiles and omega Derek, since it's pretty much always the other way around for these two.
Relationships: Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski
Comments: 50
Kudos: 900





	Running Start

**Author's Note:**

> I have yet to read a mating run fic with omega!Derek, so I thought I’d try my hand at it. I started writing this a loooooong time ago (started July 2016 and finished August 2018 according to the document history, wow), but I felt there was always something just a liiiiitle bit off about it so I never did manage to publish it. But, I haven't managed to do anything besides fiddle with it over the past two years so I figured I'd better just post it and get it over with!
> 
>  **Warnings** for sexism because it’s a/b/o, threats of rape and gangrape (but no sex actually happens of any kind), and a borderline abusive Hale family because who doesn’t like angst.
> 
> Thanks to [9timesoutoften](https://9timesoutoften.tumblr.com) on tumblr who looked this over for me... I think back in 2018 when I was first fretting over whether to post it or not, and who's reassurance I should have clearly accepted at the time, lol.

Derek tensed as he felt two heavy hands clap down on his shoulders. “Hello, Derek,” Aiden smirked from his right.

“Strawberry moon is full in four nights,” Ethan smirked from Derek’s left.

“You been thinking about what you’re doing with that sweet ass this year?” Aidan slid his hand down Derek’s back to grab a handful of his ass.

Derek breathed deeply in and out through his nose in an attempt to stay calm. He dropped the steaks he had been choosing between back into the bin and said, “The same thing I always do,” not looking at either twin.

“We figured you were gonna say something like that.” Ethan slid his hand across Derek’s shoulder until he was squeezing the back of Derek’s neck. Derek took another deep breath and kept his fangs under wraps by sheer force of will.

“You know you’re a hot commodity, this year more than ever. You’ve got to know that Deucalion's going to chase you again, and I don’t know if you’ve talked to Ennis lately but he’s raring for another chance at you, too.” A family spilled into the isle Derek and the twins were standing in, prompting Aiden to sweep his hand from Derek's ass up under his shirt to the small of his back. Derek would have preferred Aiden keep his hand where it was rather than be forced to have skin-to-skin contact with him.

“I wasn’t impressed by their attempts before and I doubt this year will change anything,” Derek said through his teeth, trying to twist out of the twins’ hold on him.

“Maybe not if they were working alone.” Ethan tightened his grip on Derek’s neck and pulled Derek closer. “But I’m sure you’ve figured out that Kali and the two of us also want a piece of you, so we’ve all made a bit of a deal. We all work together to catch you, and we all get a piece of you on the full moon. Deucalion and Kali are still hashing out who gets to make the official claim on you after that.”

“It’s probably going to end up in a timeshare, if you know what I mean,” Aiden chuckled. “We have a different deal to offer you, though.”

“If you let us catch you by ourselves,” Ethan continued, “then we don’t have any reason to involve anyone else, yeah?”

“We already know your family doesn’t like us, so there’s no way they’re accepting any offer we make on you.” Aiden’s hand groped farther up Derek’s back.

“So all you have to do is put out until the Thunder Moon is full and our claim is up. No dealing with Deucalion or Kali or both for the rest of your life.”

“Even you can’t say that’s not a good deal,” Aiden smiled, pressing himself closer to Derek. “What do you say, hm?”

Derek tried to take another calming breath, but air was whistling in and out of his lungs at a furious rate. He turned his head to look Aiden square in the eyes and said, “Fuck. You.”

Aiden’s face registered blank shock for a moment before it twisted in rage. “You little bitch,” he snarled, pulling his fist back for a punch. Derek was faster. He threw his weight into Ethan’s chest, pushing him off balance and gaining a few inches of separation from Aiden, then brought his elbow up to deliver a hard blow to Aiden’s face. Aiden cursed and crumpled to the floor while Derek turned to knee Ethan in the balls as hard as he could. Ethan yelped and doubled over, both hands flying to cover his crotch. Derek grabbed his purse from his cart and high-tailed it out of the store. He could try shopping again later.

Derek’s hands shook a little as his fished out his keys and got in his car. He allowed himself a moment to panic as he started the engine. Derek still remembered his first mating run; barely sixteen, scared and excited in equal measure and hoping so badly that Paige would claim him. He could remember the rush of giddiness that had come over him when she found him not even an hour into the night. Worst of all, he could still remember the way it felt right all the way down to his bones to get on his knees and bare his throat for Paige. But Paige had only just threaded her fingers through his hair when Kate found them and…

Well. That daydream was over.

Derek had spent the last six runs evading capture. Every spring that he ran uncaught made him more of a target to the alphas of Beacon Hills, but it wasn’t like he had a better option. He threw his Camaro into drive and squealed out of the parking lot as Aiden stormed out of the store with a black eye, looking livid.

\------

Stiles was thrilled to be participating in his first mating run. He wasn’t expecting to catch anyone, not like Scott, but you never knew what might happen; Greenburg had somehow caught Violet last year, and no one had seen that coming, either.

Stiles pushed his way through the crowds of alphas towards the omega side of the field. A police barrier separated the sexes, but several alpha/omega pairs were leaning over the barrier to talk. He found Scott there, looking at Allison in his familiar, dazed way. “Hey, Scotty,” Stiles said, slapping Scott on the back.

“Hey, Stiles!” Scott grinned. “Isn’t this crazy? I can’t believe we finally get to be in the runs!”

“Yeah,” Stiles swept his eyes over the throngs of people around them. He caught sight of Lydia and Jackson making eyes at each other a little ways down the dividing line and winced as he looked away. “It is pretty crazy.”

“Do you have anyone you’re chasing?” Allison asked, looking at Stiles with interest.

“Uh, me? No, no, no one in particular. I’m keeping my options open. You know, doing the traditional see-if-someone-catches-my-nose thing.”

“That’s great!” Allison smiled, looking completely genuine. “I think the runs are a great place to get in touch with your instincts and find someone who clicks with you on such a base level.”

“Yup, that’s the plan,” Stiles caught himself nodding frantically and did his best to stop. “Gonna get all up in those instincts. Search me out a perfect mate, right, that’s the story.”

A howl sounded from the front of the park before Allison could reply, and she shot him an encouraging smile before whispering something in Scott’s ear. Allison jogged off towards the forest with the rest of the omegas while Scott and Stiles followed on their own side of the barrier to watch the omegas start the run.

Talia Hale was standing a few steps into the shadow of the trees, smiling at the throngs of people gathering around her. Stiles skimmed his gaze over the crowd of omegas, hoping to feel the instinctive pull towards one of them that everyone was always talking about. His eyes caught on Derek Hale, one of the most attractive people to ever walk the earth. Half of the alphas here must be chasing him, not just because he was sizzling hot, but also because he had never been caught and he had the deliciously virginal scent to prove it. Rumor was that he killed two alphas who wanted to share him during his first run, and no one had gotten close to him since. Stiles figured it was more likely that the alphas had killed each other for the chance to claim Derek, since charges were never considered for the deaths of the two alphas in that year’s run.

Derek wore a dark, long sleeved shirt and a pair of running leggings that looked indecent on him, and he was doing a complicated series of stretches that showed off every tight curve of his body. Stiles was brought out of his daze by Scott slapping his shoulder.

“Dude, what?” Stiles snapped.

“Why are you yelling at me?” Scott frowned. “You’re the one who was completely ignoring me.”

“Sorry, Scott, I was a little distracted.” Stiles jerked his head towards Derek, who was now bending over at the hips to stretch his hamstrings or possibly make someone faint from blood loss to their dick.

“Oh, man,” Scott’s voice softened as he caught sight of Derek, but it wasn’t with arousal, no Stiles could not get that lucky. “Is that Derek Hale? Stiles, you know that he’s… well, you know, he’s kind of…”

“Okay,” Stiles rolled his eyes, “yes, I know that he’s completely out of my league and I have no chance in hell at ever catching him. It doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy the view.”

“Stiles, no, that’s not what I was going to say. He’d be lucky to have you, dude. I just meant that he doesn’t let anyone catch him. And he’s kind of damaged, I think. You probably shouldn’t claim him, even if you do catch him.”

“Scotty, I am touched by your completely unrealistic measure of both my athleticism and my ability to subdue the meanest omega in the state.”

Scott rolled his eyes, but Talia raised a hand for silence before he could speak.

“Welcome,” Talia called, “to this year’s mating run in Beacon Hills! To those who have traveled to join us today, I hope you were well received. But the Strawberry Moon is full and nearly fully risen, so let me lay out the rules for our run. First is that the omegas have a thirty minute head start. Second, no participants may leave the forest until moonset. Third, we do not tolerate violence. Fights between alphas will result in the alpha's elimination from this year’s field. Harming an omega will result in immediate disqualification from this and next year’s mating run. Finally, alphas may never gang up to catch an omega. This behavior will disqualify participants from this and all future mating runs, and the city will bring criminal charges against the perpetrators.

“But enough of that,” Talia’s face transformed to a smile from the deadly serious look she had been wearing. “I am confident that no one here has malicious intentions on such an occasion for celebration. Omegas, take your mark. Your thirty minute start will begin on my signal.”

Stiles watched Derek shove his way to the front of the gathered omegas and crouch into a runner’s pose. A small handful followed his example, but most of the omegas remained standing, eyes fixed on Talia.

After a few more long seconds, Talia raised her hand again and shouted, “The moon is risen!” Derek was off like a shot and lost in the deep shadows of the woods almost before Talia had finished speaking. Most of the omegas set out at a more sedate pace, jogging or walking into the forest like they didn’t have a care in the world. Then again, most omegas hadn’t witnessed two murders during their first run, so, you know, different priorities, there.

Stiles turned to Scott, who was chewing his nails and staring at the trees. Allison had doubtless started off at at least a jog, so he would have a good amount of ground to cover half an hour from now. “Well, do you think you’ll both survive the half-hour separation?” Stiles cocked an eyebrow. “I have to admit, I have my doubts about whether you’ll make it. Past experience does not bode well.”

“Shut up, Stiles, please? This is like the biggest night of my entire life. What am I gonna do if someone else finds her first?” Scott turned big puppy-dog eyes on Stiles.

“Oh please,” Stiles scoffed, “do you think Allison is going to let someone else claim her? She’s just as smitten as you are, for some reason that I absolutely do not understand.”

“But what if she finds someone with the instinctive pull! She seemed like she really liked that idea.”

“Dude!” Stiles flicked Scott in the forehead. “I'm pretty sure she already found the instinctual pull, and it's with you!”

“Oh.”

“Come on, don't tell me this is new information to you.”

“I guess… I don't know, I guess you're right. I never thought about it like that.”

Stiles sighed and rubbed his temple. “Really, Scott? You literally have a fairytale romance. Don't tell me you didn't know about it until now.”

“Huh.” A dopey grin spread over Scott’s face.

"Yeah, 'huh.'" Stiles rolled his eyes.

The next thirty minutes dragged past. Scott was anxious and no good for conversation, chewing his nails and keeping his eyes fixed on the trees in front of them. Stiles could see Jackson pacing a couple yards away, yelling at anyone who came close to him. Stiles left the both of them alone to worry about the mates they were very sure of catching.

Stiles wandered around the alpha side of the park, sizing up his competition. There was a wide range of dress among the alphas, from a couple of people in shorts and flip-flops to a much larger section of people who were wearing expensive athletic gear. Most of the alphas in the latter group were doing warm-ups and raking unfriendly eyes over the rest of the crowd. Some of the scariest alphas in attendance were huddled together in the far corner of the park, speaking in hushed voices between furtive looks around themselves. Stiles frowned and pulled his phone out of his pocket to text his dad. As Talia had just reminded everyone, packing up on an omega during the mating run was not only illegal, it was downright cruel.

 _Who's in the pack?_ Dad texted back almost immediately.

 _Deucalion, Aiden, and Ethan_ , Stiles replied, listing off the alphas he recognized. _Plus another big dude and a girl i don't know_.

_My money is on Ennis and Kali with those three. I'll tell Talia to go over the rules again, and we'll try to keep an eye on them during the night. Let me know if you catch sight of them together during the run tonight, if you can._

_Roger that_. Stiles frowned down at his phone for a moment. It was disconcerting that Dad had taken Stiles' idle warning so seriously without further proof. Talia once again returned to the front of the crowd, breaking Stiles out of his thoughts.

"There are only five minutes before the chase begins!" Talia called, still smiling. "Let me remind you once more of the rules. We do not have many, but we take those we have very seriously. First, it is illegal to pack up against any omega, or group of omegas. Each alpha must work alone to prove him or herself worthy of the mate they catch. There are serious consequences for breaking this rule, including..."

Stiles tuned the rest of the speech out as he pushed and shoved his way back through the crowd towards Scott. "Are you ready?" He asked once he was within whisper range.

"I think I'm gonna puke," Scott said. He was looking a little green around the gills.

"You're gonna be fine," Stiles assured Scott, patting him on the shoulder. "And if you do puke, I hope you brought mouthwash."

“Stiles,” Scott complained. “Why do you think she’s going over the rules again?” Scott nodded towards Talia.

“Maybe she thinks people weren't listening to her the first time? Maybe she thinks people will pay more attention now that the omegas aren't here to distract anyone? Maybe she thinks we’ve forgotten everything we ever learned about the runs in the last half hour?” Stiles shrugged and was thankful that Scott wasn't a shifter and couldn't call him on the lie.

“Okay, I get it,” Scott chuckled, “you don't know, you could have just said that to begin with.”

“Haha, yeah, I don't know why I didn't…” Stiles debated telling Scott what was going on, but he thought better of it. Scott was already nervous enough, he didn't need to be worrying about something that wouldn't affect him or Allison at all.

Talia raised her hand for silence again and Stiles moved towards the back of the crowd to avoid getting trampled. Scott hesitated between following Stiles and plowing his way to the front like Jackson, so Stiles waved him towards the front. “Go on, we weren't going to stay together very long, anyways. I don't need to see you and Allison’s joyful reunion.”

Scott flashed him a grateful grin and slithered through whatever gaps in the crowd he could find.

Talia gave the word, and the alphas at the front of the crowd shot off with a roar, quickly lost in the shadow of the woods. Stiles and several other alphas lingered around the omega's exit, trying to find the scent that would grab their attention like they’d all heard about in the important love stories. Stiles paced across the omegas’ exit, eyes mostly shut and breathing deeply. He had nearly made it to the other side, disappointed, when a particular scent seemed to hook him deep in his guts. He was several steps down the scent trail before he even realized what had happened.

The scent trail ran along with the rest of the group of omega scents for only a few yards before shooting off to the right, away from where the alphas had started the run. The trail continued that way for a long while, going perpendicular to the direction most people would be running.

The scent line was faint, suggesting a fast pace, so Stiles pushed himself to go as fast as possible in pursuit. He had a lot of space to make up with the huge head start --

The scent trail vanished. Stiles skidded to a halt and retraced his steps to where the scent disappeared, starting to panic a little. Stiles didn't find any offshoots in the trail to indicate a turn, it just stopped cold, as if the omega had dissipated into thin air or grown wings and flown away.

As Stiles looked up to contemplate the validity of that last thought, the answer became obvious. They were in a forest, after all, going vertical wasn't such an impossible feat. Stiles wandered out from the end of the scent trail in a spiral, sniffing at tree-trunks and feeling very foolish. He was grateful his omega had taken them so far off the beaten path before pulling this stunt.

When Stiles did find a tree smeared with omega scent, it was an impressively long leap from the end of the scent trail on the ground. Stiles felt his stomach twist. If his omega was this athletic, Stiles might not be able to catch up to him before the end of the night. And what if some other alpha did and Stiles’ omega accepted someone else’s advances?

Stiles took a deep breath and did his best to stuff the panic down. If his omega wanted someone else, there was nothing Stiles could do about it. What he needed to do right now was figure out how to climb this fucking tree, which looked impossible. Stiles’ omega must be a shifter, because Stiles could see claw marks pocked up the side of the tree in regular intervals. Stiles made a few failed attempts to shimmy up the tree in the same way his omega did before giving up on that idea. He probably wouldn’t have been able to do it even if he had claws to cheat with like his omega did. Instead, he found a neighboring tree with branches low enough for him to reach and clambered up that one. Then he leaped from tree-to-tree before he could think about how stupid and dangerous that was. He didn't fall and only bruised his ribs a little bit, so Stiles counted it as a win.

Stiles found the trail of his omega’s scent again easily once up in the right tree. He was a little disappointed not to find the omega themselves sitting up at the top of the tree, smiling and accepting Stiles’ claim as soon as they caught scent of him, but that was probably hoping for too much in the first place. Stiles followed his omega’s trail up the tree and out onto a limb, where it vanished again. Stiles didn’t think it was asking too much for his omega to keep the chase on the ground. It took five more inter-tree leaps before the scent trail took Stiles back to terra firma, and then it began a winding, imprecise path that seemed to take Stiles through every piece of unfriendly terrain in the preserve.

It was a good hour or two of hiking before Stiles caught the sound of a stream up ahead, and his heart sank right down to his toes. A talented person could make their scent trail vanish in water, and Stiles had no doubts about his omega’s level of skill. But the scent trail veered off again a few feet before the stream bank in a turn so narrow the omega nearly doubled back on themselves. The scent took on a sour note as Stiles followed it though the hairpin turn. Stiles was no shifter, but he could smell enough to know that something had made his omega very upset. Stiles pushed himself to run faster. An alpha scent overlaid the omega’s and Stiles snarled into the silent woods, a rage he had never felt before bubbling up in him. Then another alpha scent twisted over the trail, and Stiles’ blood ran cold. There was an alpha pack after his omega.

Stiles caught up with the alphas not long after that, coming to a halt while still well-concealed by the shadows of the trees. It was the pack he had seen at the beginning of the race, but while they were laughing and congratulating each other, he didn't see an omega anywhere.

Stiles skirted around the alpha pack until he found his omega’s scent coming out the other side of the group. Stiles breathed a sigh of relief, but the faint smell of fresh blood hit the back of his throat and he was sprinting again, trying to swallow his heart back into his chest. It didn’t take much longer to find his omega, the scent of blood growing all the while.

Derek Hale was slumped at the base of a tree, and Stiles was so stunned to find him at the end of his omega’s scent trail that he stopped and stared at him for a moment.

“If you touch me,” Derek rasped, not looking up, “I will rip your fingers off.”

“Wow,” Stiles breathed, “okay. But you smell pretty hurt. And kind of poisoned, maybe. And hey, guess who’s got an overprotective dad who insisted he carry wolfsbane and a lighter with him tonight?”

Derek’s head snapped up to look at Stiles. “So get it out and let’s use it.” Derek’s eyes flashed blue as he held out his arm. Stiles gagged a little and had to look away from the wound there.

“Oh my god, that’s horrible.” Stiles swallowed hard and tried to get himself under control. “Can - can you hear anyone else anywhere nearby?”

Derek was silent for a moment before gritting out a no.

“Okay. Okay, then, let’s do this.” Stiles crouched down next to Derek and pulled a pouch of wolfsbane petals out of his pocket. “I assume you don’t know what kind it is?”

Derek shook his head.

“Not to worry, this is a blend of everything.” Stiles dug through the bag until he had petals of blue, lilac, purple, wine, white, yellow, and purple-edged white in his hand. He dug out his lighter and, after failing to spark it a few times, he hovered the flame over the dried petals until they curled into fire, leaving a pile of hot ash in Stiles’ hand. “Are you ready?” Stiles looked up at Derek.

“Yes,” Derek thrust his arm into Stiles’ chest.

“Here we go, alright.” Stiles held Derek’s arm steady with his free hand while he dumped the ash onto the bullet wound in Derek’s arm. Derek made an ugly noise from behind clenched teeth as the ash hit his skin. Stiles dug his thumb into the bullet hole to get the wolfsbane well into the wound and Derek screamed, the sound a hybrid between a wolf’s roar and a human’s shout. Derek convulsed against the tree for several seconds while Stiles watched helplessly.

Seconds dragged by until Derek stilled. He was panting, and a fine tremor ran through his arm where Stiles still had a hold on him.

“Are you okay?” Stiles asked, smoothing his thumb over the renewed skin on Derek’s forearm.

“I’m fine.” Derek batted Stiles’ hands away and stumbled to his feet, propping himself up against the tree.

“Hey, hey, what are you doing, you need to rest after that.” Stiles grabbed at Derek and tried to get him to sit down again. Derek stayed stubbornly on his feet.

“They told me to howl when I was ready for them, and they definitely heard that yell.”

“Shit, okay, come on, let's get you out of here.” Stiles pulled one of Derek’s arms over his shoulders, taking on most of Derek’s weight. “Is that stream still somewhere close to here?”

“To the northeast,” Derek rasped. He rolled his eyes and added, “left and forwards,” when Stiles gave him a blank stare.

Stiles nodded and started walking, half dragging Derek along with him. “Do you have anywhere to hole up for the night in mind?”

Derek looked sidelong at Stiles for a long moment as they walked before reluctantly saying: “There’s a cave a little ways north up the stream from here.”

“I think I might know the one you’re talking about.” Stiles hitched Derek a little closer. “It’s near a birch grove?”

“Yeah,” Derek mumbled, leaving a long pause before adding, “that’s the one.” He slumped a little farther into Stiles.

“Hey, are you doing okay?”

“I’m fine,” Derek insisted, straightening a little.

Stiles didn’t believe it. What color Derek had regained after the wolfsbane burned out of him was gone, and he was sweating like crazy in the mild Strawberry Moon evening. “Let’s just get you to your cave.” Stiles tugged Derek on a little faster. “How much farther do you think it is from here?”

Derek looked around, brow furrowed and frowning. He closed his eyes after a moment and took a deep breath through his nose. “500 yards to the stream. Then maybe… half a mile to the cave.”

“That’s not so bad. Even if we just go at this pace, that’s what, 15 minutes?”

Derek closed his eyes and put his head down, listing into Stiles again. “They’re coming.”

“Derek?” Stiles shook him a little. “What are you talking about, buddy, you’re kinda freaking me out.”

“The pack of alphas.” Derek’s voice was a little distant and his eyes a little glazed when he turned back to look at Stiles. “They’re gaining on us.”

“Shit, come on. Do you think we can try jogging a little? If we can get you to the cave, I’ve got a bag of mountain ash and I know how to use it. All of them are shifters, they won’t be able to get to you through the ash.”

Derek stared at Stiles for a long moment. “Something’s wrong with me,” he finally whispered. “It’s not supposed to happen now.”

Dread pooled in Stiles’ stomach. “What’s not supposed to happen now, Derek?”

Derek didn’t respond. He ducked his head down to rest on Stiles’ shoulder and made a plaintive little noise against the skin of Stiles’ throat.

“Fuck.” Stiles spat as Derek’s fever-hot skin made contact with his own. “Fuck fuck fuck. I’m going to call my dad, this is getting so far out of hand.” Stiles stopped moving and dug his phone out of his pocket only to find, of course, he didn’t have any service. “Goddamnit!”

Derek whimpered and nuzzled further into the crook of Stiles’ neck. Stiles turned to pull Derek into a hug, taking a deep breath against the scent glands at the back of Derek’s jaw. This did calm Stiles down, as his health teacher had taught him, but it had the unanticipated side effect of making him _blindingly hard_.

“Hol-ey shit, you’re going into heat,” Stiles blurted. “Why didn’t you suppress it this season?”

Derek tensed at the accusation in Stiles’ voice. “I already told you,” he growled into Stiles’ throat, “it’s not supposed to happen now.”

“Oh my god, the bullet.” Stiles fisted his hands in Derek’s shirt as he realized: “They mixed catuaba with the wolfsbane.”

Derek didn’t respond except to shudder against Stiles’ shoulder. Stiles took another deep breath against Derek’s jaw line, both because the smell was heavenly and because he could really use some alpha bad-assery right now.

Nothing happened, of course.

“Okay.” Stiles pulled back from Derek and stepped away, gently pulling Derek’s hands out of the fists they had made in Stiles’ shirt. “I’m really, really sorry about this, but I am not going to let them catch you.” He dropped Derek’s hands and backed a few more steps away. Derek whimpered and stumbled after him, reaching hands stretched out in front of him. “That’s it, you’re doing great,” Stiles encouraged, nearly following up with a good boy, but the phrase stuck in his throat, not yet his to say.

Stiles walked backwards for a few more steps until he tripped and nearly toppled over. He turned back around and walked faster, then broke into a light jog when Derek kept on following. Derek let out a thin whine of frustration when Stiles increased the pace, and Stiles’ stomach twisted with guilt as he split time between watching where he was going and looking over his shoulder at Derek’s stumbling pursuit. Alphas used to do what Stiles was doing, make an omega chase after them during their heat to feed their own ego. It was obviously a sick powerplay, and it was reportedly painful to force an omega to run during their heat, but it wasn’t like Stiles had a lot of options. Stiles was certain Derek Hale’s sober mind would thank Stiles for choosing this over letting the packed-up alphas catch up to him.

They reached the creek within a few minutes, and Stiles nearly sobbed with relief at the sight of it. Of course, as soon as he set foot in it, he realized he had no idea which way to go next. Stiles spun around just in time to catch Derek as he crashed into Stiles with a noise of relief, burying his face once again in the crook of Stiles’ neck and wrapping his arms tightly around Stiles’ ribcage.

“It’s okay, big guy,” Stiles breathed into Derek’s hair, “we’re getting real close now. I just need you to tell me which way to go.”

Derek didn’t respond except to attempt to squish his body even closer to Stiles’ own. Stiles gave into temptation for a single moment, squeezing Derek in a hug and breathing in deep of Derek’s heat-sweet scent. Then he shoved Derek away as hard as he could with a harsh growl of “Derek, stop.” Derek stumbled back two steps, eyes wide in shock.

“Where is your cave?”

Derek didn’t respond.

“Where is your cave?” Stiles shouted.

Derek just stared back at Stiles, a whine building in his chest.

“Derek,” Stiles pleaded, stepping forward to take Derek’s face in his hands and knock their foreheads together. Derek’s hands jumped up to clasp Stiles’ forearms. “I don’t want to sit you in a circle of ash in the middle of the woods where the alphas can all watch you suffer. So please, baby, can you tell me what direction your cave is in?”

Derek sucked in a deep breath and said, “Upstream.”

“Thank you!” Stiles darted in to hug Derek again, trapping Derek’s arms against his sides so he couldn’t cling. “And I’m sorry,” Stiles whispered into Derek’s ear before turning and jogging up the creek. Derek gave a yelp of dismay as he floundered after Stiles.

The creek was winding, so within a minute Stiles and Derek were screened by enough trees that the alphas wouldn’t be able to see them from the end of their scent trail and would have to guess which direction they had gone. Of course, there were several of them, so they might simply split up and send half of the group each way. Stiles grimaced and hurried on a little faster through the mid-calf-height water.

By some miracle, Stiles got to the cave before a single alpha appeared on the creek behind him. Stiles got started on drawing a mountain ash line across the mouth of the cave while Derek forded the last few yards of the stream. Derek came to a dead stop when he got to the nearly-finished ash line, staring between it and Stiles as he flexed his hands in that way shifters did when they were fighting claws.

“It's okay,” Stiles did his best to smile through the frantic pounding of his heart. He held out a hand towards Derek, the other holding the last fistful of ash over a gap in the line. “It's going to keep you safe, Derek, I promise.”

Derek took a deep breath and dove across the line; as soon as he was across Stiles opened his hand and gave a sigh of relief as he felt the barrier slide into place. A second later he had his arms full of shivering, wet omega.

“You did so well, Derek,” Stiles cooed, hugging Derek impossibly closer. He rubbed his cheek in Derek’s thick hair while Derek panted hot against the crook of Stiles’ neck. “How are you feeling?” Stiles asked, lips brushing Derek’s temple.

Derek groaned through his teeth and Stiles winced. “I'm really sorry, dude. I can promise you right now that I will never do anything like that again, unless it's to protect your life or your dignity. And we should probably talk about what you'd rather happen in those kinds of situations in the future so I don't have to guess what you'd want. So… I hope you don't hate me for this when you're sober.”

Derek didn't respond from where his head was still buried in Stiles’ neck, breathing deeply over Stiles’ scent glands.

“Okay, let's get you to the back of this cave,” Stiles said, trying to stand up with Derek clinging to him like a vine.

Derek let out a choked, “no, please, not again,” as he squeezed the breath out of Stiles’ lungs.

Stiles swallowed around a lump in his throat. “Okay, okay, easy on the ribs there, buddy.” Stiles eased back down to the ground and raked his fingers through Derek’s hair in some kind of attempt to relax him. 

Derek shuddered against Stiles’ shoulder and loosened his grip to less strangling levels.

“We don't have to go anywhere. We can--” Stiles cut off as a pair of alphas came into view, splashing up the stream intensely focused on either bank. Stiles watched them for a couple of seconds before the closer one looked up and noticed them, face twisting into a sneer.

“There you are, you little bitch. Gave it up to a human to save your sorry ass, I see.”

Derek growled softly from where his head was tucked under Stiles’ chin. Stiles stroked Derek’s back and watched the alphas scramble up the bank. As they drew even with each other, it became obvious that they were the infamous Carter twins. They growled at the mountain ash line when they noticed it, and one of them spat in the dirt next to it. Derek’s growling kicked up a notch at that, and he tried to get impossibly closer to Stiles, worming his head up underneath Stiles’ chin.

“You’re not getting in here,” Stiles said, stroking a hand up and down Derek’s back, “so you might as well move on and try to find omegas of your own.”

They both laughed. “No no no, we’re staying here to enjoy the show,” one smirked.

“That catuaba has only just started to kick in,” the other grinned. “Give him a few more minutes and he’ll be wanting to do a lot more than cuddle.”

Stiles heart gave an uneven thump at that idea that all of the shifters present probably heard, to Stiles’ embarrassment. “This cave has a back chamber, we’ll be able to move out of sight.”

“Sure, if loverboy here lets you.”

The other twin sat down in the grass only feet away from Stiles and Derek. “I’m not going to miss the chance to see Derek Hale lose his virginity.”

“And then later on, we can show him just how good a real cock can wreck that tight little ass of his.” The first twin joined his brother on the ground.

“Wow,” Stiles’ eyebrows shot up, “if I wasn’t going to do anything before, I’m extra not going to do anything now.”

“I’d like to see you pass up the chance to get inside his fuckhole when he’s got it all wet and pushed up in your face,” the second twin leered.

“Yeah, great. Derek, buddy, what if we moved this party away from these assholes? Cuz I'd be really happy about that.”

Derek nodded from where his head was still pressed up under Stiles’ chin.

“Good, okay, perfect.” Stiles kept one arm hugged around Derek and used the other to awkwardly push himself up from the ground with Derek still clinging to him like his life depended on it. Stiles shuffled the two of them to the back of the cave, ignoring the jeers and taunts the twins continued to throw at them until they were out of sight.

Derek essentially tackled Stiles down into a dark corner of the cave, whining and rubbing his face up against Stiles’ shoulder, neck, and jaw. “It’s okay,” Stiles tried to soothe, pulling Derek more snugly into the curve of his body. “I’m yours, I’m not going anywhere.”

Derek let out a high, thin sound and flopped his head down on Stiles’ shoulder. “It hurts.”

“I’m sorry, baby.” Stiles rubbed his jaw against Derek’s temple. “Is there anything I can do to help you?”

Derek shook his head and clung tighter to Stiles. “I don’t want it. I wanted it to be better than this.” Derek’s voice caught and tears pricked in Stiles’ eyes as Derek said, “Still wanted it to be special. How stupid is that?”

“It’s not stupid, Derek, not stupid at all. You should be able to have something just as special as you want.”

Derek buried his face in Stiles’ neck and went still for a few minutes. Stiles tried practicing some of the breathing exercises he had learned when he was little to stay calm, because the longer he sat still with Derek pressed right up against him, the harder it became to focus on anything else but how achingly hard his dick was. Derek was evidently having the same problem, since after a few moments he whimpered and squirmed a hand down between their bodies to palm at his crotch.

The movement put Derek’s hand dangerously close to Stiles’ cock, so he grabbed Derek by the shoulders and wrestled his uncooperative body around until his back was flush with Stiles’ front. “There we go,” Stiles breathed into Derek’s ear, wrapping his arms tightly around Derek’s chest and torso. “How’s that?”

“Can’t reach you,” Derek fretted, hands fluttering over Stiles’ forearms before he settled with fisting one hand in Stiles’ pant leg and tangling the fingers of his other hand with Stiles’ where they were wrapped around Derek’s chest.

“There, that’s alright, isn’t it? Now we’ve just got to sit tight until we can get you some help. Or until dawn, but, hopefully not that long.”

A whine stuttered out of Derek’s throat and Stiles winced. Yeah, that hadn’t sounded too reassuring, had it.

“Don’t worry, I’m gonna take care of you,” Stiles murmured into Derek’s hair.

Derek whimpered, his hands moving restlessly over the parts of Stiles he could reach. Stiles didn’t know what he could do to make Derek feel better -- health class hadn’t exactly covered how to help drugged omegas going through induced heats while stranded in the middle of the woods. Derek couldn’t seem to stop either moving or making noise, and neither action was doing anything to help Stiles’ slowly slipping grip on his control. Stiles tried pinning Derek’s arms to his sides, but he kept wriggling out of Stiles’ hold.

It took only a few more minutes of Derek’s warm body squirming Stiles’ own while Derek’s heat-sweet scent continued to intensify before Stiles’ control snapped. He shoved Derek onto his back and straddled his hips, burying his face in Derek’s neck and licking over his pulsepoint. Derek whined high in his throat and Stiles hushed him, stroking his hands down Derek’s muscled sides as he picked up his head and kissed Derek on the mouth.

Derek’s mouth felt like heaven and Stiles groaned deep in his chest as he licked passed Derek’s teeth. He pressed himself down into Derek’s body, letting his omega feel his weight. Derek’s breath came out in panting little gasps and he fisted his hands in Stiles’ shirt, pulling him even closer and rocking his hips up into Stiles’.

Stiles moaned and twisted his fingers into Derek’s hair, holding Derek in place while Stiles kissed him as hard as he could and swallowed up every little sound Derek made. It wasn’t enough to quell the desperation in Stiles, so he broke away from Derek’s mouth and trailed his lips down Derek’s neck, pausing for a few delicious seconds to scrape his teeth over the scent glands under Derek’s jaw. He sucked his way down to the base of Derek’s neck, leaving a trail of fading bruises in his wake. He picked up his head to admire his handiwork, taking in Derek’s flushed face and heaving chest with smug satisfaction. Stiles bent back down to press his teeth against the base of Derek’s neck where a mating bite would go, just to test out how it would feel.

Derek’s whole body went rigid as Stiles’ teeth made contact with his skin, then in the next moment he melted underneath Stiles, going loose all at once like his strings had been cut. He turned his head, baring his neck to Stiles, and Stiles felt something hot and possessive rise up inside him. He bit down slightly, feeling Derek’s skin pull taunt under his teeth, and he thought about going all the way, slicing his teeth through Derek’s skin and filling his mouth with Derek’s blood, binding them together in the most primal way.

“Don’t,” Derek whispered.

It was a tiny breath of a sound, but it hit Stiles like a bucket of ice water. He threw himself backwards off of Derek, falling hard on his ass on the rock floor of the cave. Derek whimpered and reached after him, catching one of Stiles’ flailing wrists and trying to tug Stiles back to him.

“Derek, you can’t,” Stiles choked, “I almost — but fuck you’re still drugged…” Stiles took a deep breath and squeezed his eyes shut as they started to prickle with tears.

Derek whined, high in his throat and plaintive. Stiles tamped down on the urge to go and comfort his omega, but all that did was prompt Derek to clamber over Stiles’ legs and curl himself up under Stiles’ chin. He was shivering lightly again, and Stiles was helpless to do anything but wrap his arms around his omega and try his best to calm him down. Derek still smelled like heaven, still felt like home in Stiles’ arms, and still would not stop fucking moving, but he was sitting sideways across Stiles’ lap now instead of pressing his groin or his ass right up against Stiles’ cock, so that made things a little more bearable.

That and Stiles had just had a very real brush with becoming a particularly despicable breed of rapist, so that would sober most people up. Stiles squeezed his arms tighter around Derek, who groaned in delight and wiggled until he could wrap his own arms around Stiles’ ribs. It seemed Derek had finally found a position to his liking as he pressed his face into Stiles’ neck and went blessedly still, his only movements where he was ever-so-slowly rubbing his jaw over Stiles’ collarbone to scent him and the occasional rumbling purr that escaped his chest. Stiles pressed his cheek to the top of Derek’s head and just tried to keep breathing without losing his mind again.

Of course, the peace couldn’t last for long.

Derek went stiff in Stiles’ arms, staring at the entrance to the cave, which their earlier scrambling had brought them back in view of. The twins were thankfully gone, but Stiles pulled Derek tighter against his chest anyways -- if an unshifter alpha stumbled upon them like this the mountain ash wouldn’t do anything to hold them back, and Stiles didn’t like his chances in a fight should it come down to that.

Soon even Stiles could hear footsteps rustling through the underbrush. He tried to get up and pull Derek further into the cave, but Derek made an unhappy sound and refused to move. Stiles let out a breath of relief as a figure finally appeared in the mouth of the cave, eyes lit up a brilliant yellow. Derek was still safe, at least for now.

Derek made an odd, canine noise in his throat and sat up straight in Stiles’ lap, eyes fixed on the girl who was now snarling down at the line of mountain ash.

“What did you do to him?” the girl yelled, her bright eyes boring into Stiles.

“ _I_ didn’t do anything,” Stiles snapped, only to temper his tone when Derek whined and ducked his head back under Stiles’ chin. “Some other alphas drugged him, so I brought him here and put down the ash to keep him safe from them.”

The girl didn’t look like she believed him.

“Look, can you help us?” Stiles asked. “I don’t want Derek to have to spend the rest of the night like this, but I can’t exactly leave him alone right now.”

The girl still didn’t look convinced, but she nodded anyways. “What do you want me to do?”

“Go back to the trailhead and get my da-- I mean, the sheriff, and tell him to bring some deputies and an ATV to get Derek to a hospital.”

“Okay.” The girl nodded again. “You know it’s not a short trip to the trailhead from here, right?”

“I’m aware,” Stiles bit out, “but it’s a heck of a lot faster than waiting for dawn.”

The girl nodded again and took a step back. “Now let’s just all hope no one catches me on the way back.” She flashed her fangs in a humorless smile and turned on her heel.

Derek whined and leaned after her, his clawed fingertips scraping against the stone floor of the cave. The girl whirled back around and crouched down at the ash line, brilliant eyes fixed on Derek. “Hey,” she murmured, “don’t you worry, Derek, I’m gonna get you some help. I’ll be back before you know it. Don’t you let that alpha get away with any bullshit in the meantime, alright?”

Derek huffed and flopped back against Stiles’ chest. The girl cast a critical eye over Stiles and then took off running. Stiles watched her leap over the stream and quickly get lost in the forest beyond before turning his attention back to Derek, who was shivering again and breaking out in a fresh layer of sweat.

“It’s okay,” Stiles hugged Derek against his chest, “it can’t take her more than an hour or so to run back to the trailhead, and then it should only be a few minutes until they can get out here with a four-wheeler. Just hang on until then for me, okay?”

Derek didn’t respond except to wrap an arm around Stiles’ waist and tuck his face into the crook of Stiles’ neck.

“That’s right, you just sit tight.” Stiles raised a hand to stroke through Derek’s sweaty hair. Derek shuddered and was mostly still for another handful of minutes before he reached down with his free hand to squeeze at his crotch. Stiles sucked in a sharp breath through his nose that did absolutely nothing to help clear his mind while Derek whined and reached behind his balls to rub at his slit through his pants.

Stiles nearly bit through his own tongue resisting the impulse to slide his own hand down to join Derek’s. “It’s okay,” Stiles’ voice shook as he squeezed Derek tighter against his chest, “you go ahead and do whatever you need to.”

Derek’s breath came in hot gusts against Stiles neck as he continued to rub at himself through his pants, his scent turning richer and saltier on Stiles’ palate the whole time. Stiles couldn’t decide if it was easier to just bury his nose in the scent gland Derek had so teasingly bared to him or to breath through his mouth and deal with the frustration of being able to taste faint traces of Derek on his tongue with every inhale. Derek eventually moved to shove his hand inside his pants, and Stiles winced and caught his wrist before he was able to do more than slip his fingers under his waistband.

“Baby, I know I said you can do whatever you need, but, turns out I lied. I don’t think I can handle you actually touching yourself in front of me like that.”

Derek whined high in his throat and squirmed in Stiles’ grip. Stiles loosened his hold on Derek everywhere but where he was squeezing Derek’s wrist. Derek propped himself up on Stiles’ chest, tugging at his captive wrist until Stiles let go and he could bury that same hand in Stiles’ hair.

Stiles groaned at the gentle tug on his hair and the feeling of Derek’s strong hand splayed over Stiles’ chest. Derek stared at Stiles for a moment, body still for once and tense, and Stiles stared right back, wishing it wasn’t so dark so he could see the color of Derek’s eyes, until Derek slowly leaned forward and set his lips against Stiles’ mouth. Stiles tensed, remembering where a kiss had led the last time they tried this, but Derek shuddered and made such a sweet sound of relief as he moved his mouth against Stiles’ that Stiles was helpless to do anything but respond to the kiss.

They alternated between kissing and cuddling and Derek’s discontented squirming for so long that Stiles figured the other omega he’d asked to help must have gotten caught on her way back to the trailhead after all.

Derek launched upright and growled softly out into the forest. Stiles’ heart leapt up into his throat again until the sound of rumbling engines finally reached his weaker ears and he nearly went limp in relief.

“Oh thank god, we are gonna get you out of here and into the hands of a trained medical professional, buddy, I can’t believe I survived this long.”

Derek didn’t seem to get the same memo. While two ATVs burst into view and splashed across the stream to stop in front of the cave, Derek clambered to a crouch above Stiles, eyes flashing icy blue and a steady growl grating in his chest.

“No,” Stiles tried to yank Derek back into his lap as Dad climbed out of the first ATV, “no no no no, now is not the time to get territorial, they are here to help you, buddy.”

Derek didn’t even spare Stiles a glance, attention fixed on the officers in front of him.

Dad stepped cautiously into the cave while Parrish, stymied by the ash line, stayed outside, sweeping attentive eyes over the forest.

Derek snarled at Dad as he took another step closer, fangs lengthening in Derek’s mouth. Dad stopped where he was and sighed.

“Well, son, you’ve really outdone yourself this time.”

“Don’t even try that with me, Dad,” Stiles snapped, both hands fisted in Derek’s shirt and trying to figure out what the hell he would do if Derek decided to actually attack his dad. “I have had to exert so much self-control in the past few hours that they should erect a statue in my honor, and I don’t have any patience left. How do we get him out of here?”

“I hear you, I hear you. But this is probably going to be tricky. Obviously, your boy’s gotten a little possessive, so he’s probably not going to move for anything except you moving.”

“Okay, so I’ll just move.” Stiles started to shove himself to his feet, only to get body-slammed into the cave wall with roughly 200 pounds of growling shifter. “Oh my god,” Stiles coughed, “easy on my fragile human ribs, big guy, please.”

Derek glared at him, eyebrows furrowed and mouth turned down as far as he could get it with his fangs poking out between his lips.

“That’s probably supposed to be scary, but I have never seen anything more adorable,” Stiles cooed, leaning forward and pressing a kiss to Derek’s frowning mouth. That startled Derek enough that Stiles managed to get the both of them standing before Derek remembered about the other person in the room. “Okay, now let's go.” Stiles kept his arms wrapped tightly around Derek’s rib cage where he had pulled him to his feet and started pushing Derek backwards.

Derek whined and buried his face in Stiles neck, clinging tightly to Stiles’ shoulders, but he allowed Stiles to move them until they ran up against the ash barrier.

“Dammit,” Stiles hissed as Derek whimpered and tried to crush himself even closer to Stiles. “Dad, can you try to break the line?”

Dad sighed and crouched down next to the line. “You know I’m no good with magic, Stiles.”

“I know, just, try please? I don’t want to have to set him down.”

Dad frowned down at the ash for a few moments before reaching out to drag a finger deliberately through the ash line. The barrier didn’t so much as ripple against Derek’s back, the ash simply shifting around Dad’s finger and returning right back into place. Dad looked up at Stiles, eyebrow raised.

“Okay, well, just try again,” Stiles growled, Derek still shuddering where he was curled up against him.

Dad tried again, and then two more times after that, all with the same result, before shaking his head and standing up. “I think you’re going to have to do this, Stiles.”

“Oh my god,” Stiles groaned, throwing his head back. “What if I just…” Stiles turned to the side so he had a clear line of sight down to the line, Derek still tucked into his chest, and kicked at the line, willing it to dissipate with every ounce of pent up frustration in him.

The ash scattered and Stiles let out a sigh of relief.

Dad whistled. “That was impressive.”

“Yeah, whatever, can we please get my omega some medical attention before any more alphas catch the scent?”

“ _Your_ omega, huh, son?”

“Dad!” Stiles wailed, shuffling a very resistant Derek across the broken ash line and out into the open.

“Alright, alright,” Dad followed Stiles out of the cave with his hands up in surrender. “Now you’ve just got to decide how you want to get him into one of the four-wheelers.”

“Oh, fuck.” Stiles stared at the two four-wheelers, each with one seat for a driver and one seat for a passenger. “Derek, buddy, I don’t suppose you’d want to each take a separate vehicle back to the trailhead, huh?”

Derek didn’t so much as twitch where he was plastered against Stiles’ side.

“Yeah, didn’t think so.”

It took a few false starts, but Stiles eventually got both of them onto a four-wheeler, Stiles in the passenger seat and Derek curled up on the floor, bracketed between Stiles’ legs with his face pressed against the inside of Stiles’ thigh.

“Ready?” Dad asked from the driver’s seat after they finally settled.

“Yeah, yes, let’s hurry it up here.” Stiles clenched his teeth as Derek nuzzled closer to Stiles’ crotch.

Dad put the four wheeler into gear and splashed back over the stream, much to Derek's distress. Stiles spent the next ten minutes curled over Derek, murmuring nonsense in an attempt to keep him calm as the four wheeler went bouncing through the forest. By the time they finally broke through the last of the trees Stiles was sure he had several rings of bruises up and down his legs from Derek's fingers.

There was a small crowd in the clearing already: pairs that had finished their runs were registering their newly paired status with event staff, more staff were handing out protein bars and gatorade, and a small huddle of emergency personnel sat huddled under a tent together. Dad drove up to the emergency tent while everyone in the clearing stopped what they were doing to stare at them; it wasn't often that the sheriff's office had to intervene in the mating run, and this was the second time that Derek Hale had been involved with such an intervention. Stiles couldn't blame anyone for staring, but he also had a fast-growing bubble of protective rage building in his chest and he wasn't sure what exactly he was going to do when it inevitably burst.

"Stiles, how are you holding up?" Melissa asked, stooping down next to the four-wheeler and setting a hand on Stiles' shoulder.

Stiles turned towards her, grateful for the distraction, but any answer he could have given was interrupted by another growl from Derek, who had raised his head from Stiles' thigh to flash blue eyes at Melissa.

"Hey, now, it’s okay," Melissa took a step back, holding her hands up in surrender. "Someone's gone into heat at a bad time, hm?"

"Someone's heat was forcibly induced, actually." Stiles ran soothing hands over Derek's head and neck, tipping Derek's face back towards his own.

Melissa sucked in a sharp breath, looking towards Dad for confirmation. Dad just shrugged. "We were a little focused on getting the omega in heat to safety, not much time for a cross-examination yet."

"Well, let's see if we can get poor Derek out of the vehicle and onto something more comfortable." Melissa backed up a little more to give Stiles and Derek room to get out.

"I'll go get Talia," Dad said, getting out of the four-wheeler himself. "I think she'll probably want to know what's happened to her son."

Stiles took a deep breath, sure he was about to make a terrible first impression on his hopefully-mate's very scary mother. He grabbed one of Derek's hands and pushed himself out of the four-wheeler, Derek following behind with an irritated whine.

"Why don't the two of you lay down here," Melissa led them over to a cot in the back corner of the tent. "If you don't have anything against it, Stiles, I would suggest taking your shirt off. Skin-to-skin contact is always helpful for omegas in heat."

Stiles swallowed hard as he sat down on the bed. He didn't have long to think Melissa's suggestion over, since Derek promptly tackled Stiles down against the bed and octopus-cuddled him, rubbing his head up underneath Stiles' chin and purring loudly.

"What a sweetheart." Melissa smiled as she watched them for a moment before growing serious again. "Stiles, what can you tell me about what happened to Derek today?"

"I didn't see anything happen, exactly," Stiles frowned, slipping a hand underneath Derek's shirt to rub up and down his back while he scooted them over to lay more fully on the bed. "I was following his scent trail when I found a group of alphas talking and laughing with each other. I went around them and caught Derek's scent on the other side, and when I found him a little while later he had a bullet wound in his arm."

"That was how the heat drug was introduced to his system?" Melissa guessed.

"Yeah, but at first neither of us thought of that because it was also laced with wolfsbane."

"Christ almighty, is nothing too much for these scumbags?" Melissa spat. "Where exactly was this bullet wound? I'm assuming you already addressed it by now, but I want to check it anyway."

"It was on the inside of his forearm. If I can get him to let go of me..." Stiles trailed off while he tried to pull Derek's arm from around his waist, where it was very securely wrapped.

"Doesn't look like you're having much luck with that," Melissa smirked. "In the meantime I can get something to lessen the symptoms of his heat." Melissa pulled a syringe out of the cabinet next to the cot. "Erica filled me in before you got here, and since Derek is generally a big believer in suppressing heats this will only work to a certain degree, since the shifter immune system is very good at building up immunities to drugs, but it should at the very least curb the sexual urges. He might still be a cuddle bug for the next several hours, though," Melissa smiled. "Now if you could keep him distracted for a moment while I get all of this injected, that would be helpful."

"Um, distracted like..."

"Probably whatever you're thinking, yes. Anything that would appeal to his instincts right now enough to make him ignore a small stab and possibly a mild to moderate burning sensation."

"Okay. I can do that." Stiles swept both hands up Derek's back. "Here's to hoping your mom and my dad don't walk in in the middle of this, buddy." Stiles nudged Derek's head up and kissed him on the mouth. Derek surged up to meet him like the tide. They might have already spent a big chunk of the night attached at the lips, but Stiles felt like he would never get tired of this. Derek twitched suddenly and tried to pull away -- Melissa had presumably found her opening -- but Stiles pulled Derek even closer, pushing a thigh between Derek's legs to rub against his cock. Derek groaned and pressed down into the contact, all thought of moving away banished as he melted into Stiles' side, mouth hot and frantic against Stiles' own.

The intensity of the kiss melted away after a few minutes, fading out until Stiles and Derek were merely sharing air, nose-to-nose on the pillow.

"Is that it?" Stiles asked after a moment of quiet.

"Yup. He's on the mend, now. An induced heat is usually short, even without any treatment, so I'd guess he'll be back to normal before noon tomorrow."

"That's good." Stiles watched the slow blink of Derek's dark lashes for a few moments. "Do you still need to see his arm?" Stiles remembered after a while.

"I would like to. If there's any lingering infection we'll need to take care of it right away or he risks losing part of his arm."

Stiles tried peeling Derek's arm off of him once again, but Derek just grumbled and tightened his hold. "Still not really looking too good on that front," Stiles said.

"Where is Talia?" Melissa sighed as she stood from her chair and paced a few steps toward the front of the tent. "Derek would probably tolerate her touching and moving him since she's his mother, and she has strength to match his if he acts ornery. She's probably our best bet at getting him to move."

"I wouldn't hold your breath waiting for her." Someone moved in the shadows in the other corner of the tent, scaring Stiles near out of his skin.

Derek growled and curled himself on top of Stiles as Stiles' heart went crazy from adrenaline.

"Oh my god, who are you?" Stiles squeaked once he had caught his breath.

The girl came closer and Stiles recognized her as the omega he had sent back for help. She spared a moment to smirk at Stiles before fixing her eyes on Derek. "Hey Derek," she came forward to stand next to the bed, "how are you holding up?"

The tension slowly leached out of Derek's frame again until he was laying puddled on Stiles' chest. Stiles couldn't resist sweeping a hand up to bury his fingers in Derek's hair, even if it was a little sweaty and greasy by this point. Judging by the rumbling purr Derek let out he wasn't opposed to the idea either.

The girl crouched down and slowly set her elbows on the bed, keeping eye contact with Derek the whole time. Stiles couldn't see Derek's face to know what he thought about that, but he didn't growl or even tense up at all, so he couldn't have been too upset by the action.

"That's right," the girl smiled, "you know I'm not gonna steal your man." She held out her hand on the bed, palm up, and after a few moments Derek slid his hand on top of hers, squeezing slightly. She flipped their hands, exposing Derek's inner arm at long last, and cocked an eyebrow back at Melissa.

"That works too," Melissa smiled, coming forward again to peer at Derek's arm. "Let me get a wipe and a light, it's a little hard to see what's going on here." Melissa dug through the cabinet next to the cot again, pulling out a flashlight and handing a wipe to the girl.

The girl frowned down at the packet before handing it to Stiles. "You should probably do this. I don't wanna take any chances with uninvited touching."

"Sure." Stiles accepted the packet and tore it open with his teeth. He pulled out the wet-wipe inside and carefully rubbed it over Derek's forearm, wiping away a thin layer of grime and a few lingering streaks of dried blood.

Melissa clicked on the flashlight and spent a few moments examining Derek's arm. "Where exactly was the wound?" she asked Stiles.

"Somewhere around here." Stiles drew a circle on Derek's arm, prompting him to shiver and burrow a little closer. "Are you cold, buddy?" Stiles wrapped both arms around Derek's torso and pressed a kiss to his forehead.

"This is all looking good to me," Melissa announced after another moment. She turned off the flashlight and smiled up at Stiles. "You did a good job taking care of your boy tonight, Stiles. I'm sure his family will be pleased to know Derek was in such good hands."

The girl rolled her eyes at that, though Melissa couldn't see that from her position.

"You can get under the covers if you want. I'll leave you two alone now, I've got to finish up some paperwork." Melissa walked back to the desk at the front of the tent, leaving Stiles and Derek alone with the girl.

"So," Stiles said after a long moment of silence, "who are you exactly?"

"I'm Erica. I joined the Hale pack when I was a toddler and started having epileptic seizures. Talia probably saved my life with the bite."

"Wow, that's ... intense."

Erica snorted and got up to sit in the chair next to the bed, never letting go of Derek's hand. "That's one way of putting it."

"So you know the family pretty well by this point."

Erica nodded, raising an unimpressed eyebrow. "Kind of an understatement."

"Is there any way Talia could be, like, tricked into thinking I'm a worthy match for her son?"

Erica threw back her head and laughed. "Oh man, I like that you don't even try to pretend you're actually worth this guy's time."

"Hey, it's not like there's something horribly wrong with me."

"No," Erica's smile faded, "but you're not wealthy or influential, and as far as I know you don't have any particular aspirations on becoming either of those things, which are already three strikes in Talia's book."

"Dude, I'm seventeen, give me a break here, I haven't even finished high school."

"Yeah," Erica wrinkled her nose, "kinda weird that there's not like age brackets for the run, isn’t it? Some dude over fifty was chasing me for a good chunk of the night and I was not about it."

"Yuk." Stiles pulled Derek a little closer to himself -- there were surely plenty of guys over fifty who had entertained dreams of catching Derek tonight.

"Just, look." Erica leaned forward, her hair falling around her like a curtain. "Talia is almost certainly not going to like you. And to be totally honest with you, I'm not sure how Derek is going to feel after he wakes up from this whole experience. But," Erica shrugged, "he was younger than you are now the last time he had any sort of chemistry with anyone, and Talia has a knack for doing whatever will make Derek the most miserable. So try to give him a chance to pull his head out of his ass if he starts acting like a dick. It's kind of his default setting for new situations."

"Well, I have been told that I'm a dick nearly all of the time, so we're gonna either get along great or hate each other's guts."

"That's the spirit," Erica smirked.

There was a commotion outside that culminated with Talia Hale striding into the emergency tent. "Derek!" Talia called as she breezed past Melissa.

Derek tensed in Stiles' arms and Stiles frowned, tucking Derek's head up under his chin.

"What's this?" Talia asked, coming to stand next to the bed. "You went into heat in the middle of the run and somehow you come back to me unmated yet again?"

Derek growled low in his throat and slid off of Stiles' chest to bury his face in the side of Stiles' rib cage instead.

"Okay, what if we didn't shout at omegas in heat, first of all," Stiles snapped while he yanked the edge of the blanket on the cot over Derek. "And second, are you really coming in here to tell your son that you wish he had been raped after someone shot him with a wolfsbane and catuaba bullet in the middle of the mating run?"

Erica grinned from behind her hair and Talia looked slightly taken aback.

"Are you his supposed savior?" Talia asked.

"That would be me, yup."

"Fine. Then that makes Derek and his virtue your problem for the Thunder Moon."

Stiles gaped unattractively while Talia turned on her heel and marched out of the tent.

"Oh my god, is she actually insane?" he asked once she was gone.

Erica shrugged. "She has a certain way about her."

"Yeah, in that she's a _complete asshole_! No wonder Derek's never mated anyone with that kind of alpha example at home!"

"Son," Dad frowned as he walked into the tent, "she's also an alpha shifter who can hear people shouting for vast distances."

"Too bad, Dad, turns out she's exactly the type of person that I don't want to make a good impression on."

Erica laughed again, turning a bright grin on Stiles. "You know what, I like you, and I think you'll be good for Derek, too."

"Why don't you and Derek try to get some sleep," Dad said. "You've had an active night and I'm sure Derek is exhausted. We can figure out all the details for the Thunder Moon once he's able to participate in the conversation."

"Fine," Stiles sighed, looking down at Derek, who still had his face buried in Stiles' side.

Stiles managed to roll Derek and himself under the covers after a struggle of a few minutes, Derek still resolutely plastered against Stiles.

“I’ll wake you up if any of the other family members start to come over,” Erica said, settling back into the lawn chair at the side of the cot.

“Thanks,” Stiles murmured, stroking firm hands over Derek’s back in an attempt to get Derek to relax, his muscles still tight with whatever emotion Talia had inspired with her short visit. Stiles fell asleep himself before he managed the task.

***

He woke up sometime later to the dim light of dawn and Erica snoring gently in the chair next to him. Stiles guessed Derek was awake based on the occasional sweep of eyelashes he could feel on his neck.

“How are you feeling, buddy?” Stiles asked.

“Like shit,” Derek grumbled into Stiles’ collarbone.

"But you're talking," Stiles grinned, trying to shift to get a look at Derek's face.

Derek kept his face firmly buried in the crook of Stiles' neck.

"Okay, maybe not fully recovered yet."

Derek growled and rubbed his cheek against Stiles' shoulder.

"Are you hungry or thirsty or anything?" Stiles asked. "You healed a bullet wound last night, you should probably try to eat something."

Derek huffed. "I'm thirsty. But I don't wanna get up."

"Would you let me up?" Stiles asked. "I could go get you some water or gatorade or something."

"No."

"Can we wake up Erica? Or would she be pissed."

Derek was silent for a moment before saying, "She'll probably be pissed," and stretching out over Stiles to paw at her arm.

Erica came awake with a growl and a flash of bright yellow eyes. "Derek," she said once she'd gained her bearings, grabbing Derek's hand from where it was still resting on her arm. "You feeling any better?"

Derek shrugged.

"He's thirsty," Stiles supplied, "but he won't let me up or get up himself so that he can get some water."

"Oh, I see what this is." Erica swept her frizzy hair out of her face and stretched up out of her chair and onto her feet. "Fine, I'll get you some water just this once since you're an invalid and all. Where are the nurses, anyways, isn't this their job?" Erica wandered out of the tent.

Stiles turned back to look at Derek, who had resettled himself propped over Stiles' chest so they could make eye-contact. "So, uh, I caught you."

Derek raised his eyebrows.

"Do you... have any thoughts about that?" Stiles hazarded when Derek didn't seem inclined to actually say anything.

"Do you have any thoughts for what you want to do during the Thunder Moon?" Derek countered.

"Well, I mean, I was hoping that you'd let me court you."

"Court me?" Derek's eyebrows climbed higher.

"Yes! I'm still in high school, you know, I don't think I'm ready to give you a mating bite yet."

Derek smirked.

"Okay, how about we don't ever bring up what happened in that cave again." Stiles flapped his hands in front of his face, trying to forget how undeniably right it felt to have Derek spread out underneath him with his teeth on Derek's neck. "All things considered, I think I did a pretty good job with that situation."

"Yeah." Derek's expression softened and he darted in to plant a kiss on the corner of Stiles' mouth, there and gone in a second. "This is kind of weird to say," Derek continued while Stiles tried to keep his brain online, "but I don't think I ever got your name."

"Aw, shit, are you kidding me? I never even introduced myself?"

Derek shrugged and ducked his head. "We never really had a minute to stop and do proper introductions."

"Well, sorry about that. I'm Stiles."

Derek's forehead wrinkled. "That's a nickname, I hope, if Sheriff Stilinski is your father."

"Yes, dumbass, my parents didn't name me Stiles."

Derek looked at Stiles expectantly.

"Yeah, no," Stiles snickered, "I have the nickname for a reason, no one needs to know my legal name."

"That bad, hm?"

"You have no idea."

Erica arrived back at the tent, a basket of water bottles in her hands. Melissa entered after her, carrying a plate of bananas and protein bars. "I come bearing water and a nurse," Erica announced, plopping the basket down next to the cot and cracking open a water bottle before handing it to Derek.

Derek frowned at the water bottle for a minute until Stiles rolled his eyes and said, "Come on, we're sitting up so you can drink your water." Derek let himself be manhandled until Stiles was sitting up and Derek was curled into his chest, then drank the entire bottle in one go.

"Get this man some more water," Stiles frowned. Erica was already in the middle of twisting off another cap for Derek.

"You should drink something, too." Melissa handed a bottle to Stiles, who reluctantly pulled an arm away from Derek to accept it. "And you should both eat if you're feeling up to it. I'll just leave these here so you can grab them whenever." Melissa set the plate of snacks on the edge of the bed. "Now have the two of you thought at all about what you're going to do for the Thunder Moon? I know tradition dictates courting, but it is very common for the omega to move in with the alpha during the courting period."

"Um, well, you'd be welcome to stay with me, Derek, but it's whatever you want to do. This isn't really a normal situation, you know."

Derek's expression was pinched, and he seemed to mull over what he wanted to say for long enough that Stiles had to bite down on his tongue to keep from blurting out something that would inevitably make him sound like an insecure idiot.

"I think I'd like to stay at home for now." Derek darted a quick glance at Stiles from under his eyelashes. "But if you want to court me, I wouldn't say no."

"Okay," Stiles grinned, "that's as good of a start as I could ask for. And to be honest it might be kind of weird if you moved in, since I still live with my dad and all. Maybe by this time next year I'll have moved out."

"Next year?" Derek's eyebrows shot up again. "You think you can catch me again next year?"

"I'm kinda hoping that by next year you might want to be caught."

Erica choked on the water that she had been drinking. "That's disgusting," she got out between coughs, "I'm not going to stand here and listen to this shit." She beat a hasty retreat out of the tent.

"I think that's a very sweet sentiment," Melissa smiled. "I'll leave you boys to it. Things are starting to wind down out there, but you've still got some more time until we need to start breaking down the tent." Melissa followed Erica out at a more dignified pace.

"You really mean that?" Derek asked after Melissa was out of sight.

"What part specifically?" Stiles looked down at Derek, who had his face half-buried in Stiles' chest.

"You want to court me for a whole year?"

"Hell yes." Stiles grinned at the shocked look on Derek's face. "How could you ever even think the answer to that would be no?"

Derek shrugged, not making eye contact.

"Okay, well, whatever you might think, you should know that I very much want to court you, for as long as you'll put up with it, with the end goal of a mating bite and a bonding ceremony and the whole nine yards."

Derek swallowed hard and squeezed his arms tight around Stiles' waist. "What if I want you to stop?"

Stiles' heart skipped a beat. "Well, that would, uh, that would really suck, but it's not like it would be totally surprising."

Derek relaxed, and Stiles tensed in turn.

"Do you want me to stop?"

Derek shook his head, finally looking back up at Stiles. "No, but I want to know that you would if I asked."

"Dude," Stiles frowned, "it's not like I'm going to force you into anything."

"Maybe not." Derek stared steadily back at Stiles. "But there's no way for me to know that until I ask."

"Fair enough," Stiles conceded.

They both looked up at the door as a shadow fell across it.

"Morning, boys," Dad smiled as he entered the room. "Derek, I'm glad to see you looking more like yourself."

Derek ducked his head down against Stiles' chest again. "Sorry for threatening you, Sheriff," Derek said.

"No need to apologize," Dad replied, "you were in a very stressful situation and not in your right mind. Both of you will probably be happy to hear we were able to apprehend the alphas Stiles mentioned to us last night. They were all in a group at the time, which will help support the charges of packing up. Ennis was carrying a gun at the time of their arrest, though we will be testing for fingerprints from all of them and all of them should have been tested for gunshot residue during intake last night, so that should be enough evidence to at least get them barred from future mating runs, if nothing else."

"Good." Stiles pulled Derek closer and rubbed his cheek over the top of Derek's head. Dad watched him with amused eyes.

"We will be asking both of you to act as witnesses during the trial," Dad continued.

Derek went tense against Stiles, which Dad immediately noticed.

"It's nothing to get worked up about, these things take a long time to get through so you should have weeks, if not months, to make up your minds about whether or not you want to testify, although it would really help our case if you did. But, like I said, nothing you have to worry about right now."

Dad came to sit in the chair next to the bed while Stiles stroked his fingers through Derek's hair until Derek's muscles weren't locked up so tight.

"So," Stiles broke the silence they had fallen into, "do the two of you know each other?"

"A little bit," Dad said. "Derek applied at the Sheriff's Office a few years ago. Unfortunately we couldn't accept him because we're still saddled with that no omegas policy, but we've kept in touch a bit since then."

"That sucks." Stiles frowned down at Derek.

Derek shrugged. "I got over it."

"Where do you work now?"

"Library. Turned out my second-choice job was a lot more appropriate for omegas."

"At least you only had to go down to second choice."

Melissa came back to the tent, a stack of papers in her hands. "Boys, I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but your time is just about up. They'll be coming by to break down the tent in about twenty minutes." She dropped the papers off in a bin and left the tent again.

"Dammit." Stiles tightened his grip on Derek. "Are you gonna be by yourself if you go home now?"

Derek shook his head. "I'll have Erica and Isaac with me. Maybe even Cora, if she feels like it."

"That's good." Stiles made no move to let go of Derek.

Dad sighed and stood up. "I'll see if I can get Erica in here." He walked out of the tent.

"Do you have your phone?" Stiles asked once Dad was gone.

"I don't know." Derek patted down his pockets until he dug out his phone.

"Great, let's trade numbers." Stiles snatched the phone out of Derek's hand as soon as it was unlocked and entered himself as a new contact. "There," Stiles handed Derek his phone back, "now text me so I have yours so we can find each other later."

Derek tapped a few times on his phone before putting it away. Stiles felt his own phone vibrate against his thigh and buried his smile in Derek's hair.

"Ug, the two of you are still sickening," came Erica's voice. Stiles looked up to find her frowning at them from beside the bed. "I'm told you’re having some trouble separating."

"It's normal to have strong feelings of attachment after --"

"Yeah, yeah, spare me the lecture," Erica cut Derek off. "You're going to have to move out of the tent, at least. Whether you do that together or apart is up to you."

Derek groaned and pulled away from Stiles to sit up straight. Stiles reluctantly let go of him. Derek rubbed his eyes, then scooted to the edge of the bed and shoved himself to his feet. He swayed once he was upright and Stiles scrambled to the edge of the bed to support him, only to have Erica get there first.

"Idiot," she scolded while Derek found his footing, "give yourself a second to adjust, don't go flinging yourself around while you're still dehydrated and haven't eaten anything in over 16 hours."

"I'm fine." Derek batted Erica's hands away.

"Yeah, sure," Erica snorted. She looked back at Stiles. "See what he's like? This is what you're gonna have to deal with all the time. Mr. Independent here never needs any help."

Derek scowled at Erica while Stiles crawled off of the cot at a more gradual pace.

"Good, you're both standing. Now come on and get out of everyone's way." Erica tugged on the front of Derek's shirt before turning to walk out of the tent. Stiles and Derek traded a look before following her out. The clearing was only sparsely populated now, a few staff members breaking down the remaining tents made up most of the population, plus a few lingering pairs and single stragglers just now coming out of the woods.

"So I guess this is goodbye?" Stiles asked.

Derek nodded, jaw clenched.

"This is painful," Erica sighed next to them. "Come on, Derek, you need a bath and some breakfast." Erica grabbed Derek's arm and started to tug him away before turning to pin Stiles with a look. "You had better text, Stiles, or else this guy is gonna do something terrible like pine for you, and I won't stand to be around that."

Stiles grinned while Derek's cheeks went pink. "Don't worry, I'll text. I'll even call. Probably way too much."

"Good." Erica looked at Derek, who was biting his lip and smiling at Stiles. "I have a feeling he's gonna like that."

Derek nodded and let himself be pulled away, still smiling.

Stiles stayed where he was, grinning like an idiot and watching Derek walk away until he was lost in the trees.

"First run, kid, I can't believe it," Dad sighed from Stiles' side, clapping a hand on Stiles' shoulder. Stiles startled at his sudden appearance. "And you caught Derek Hale, no less." Dad shook his head. "Well, from what I know of him he's a sweet kid, even if he has a bit of a tough shell. I think you'll do each other right."

"Yeah, I think so, too." Stiles smiled.

**Author's Note:**

> Rebloggable [on my tumblr here!](https://moretomhardy.tumblr.com/post/630444689288577024/running-start)
> 
> Visit me on [tumblr](https://moretomhardy.tumblr.com)! I'm mostly into multishipping The Witcher these days, but you'll still see some sterek things on my blog now and again.


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